In March, Microsoft admitted that the process for app creators to submit their software to Windows Phone Marketplace was now taking about seven days to complete. Today, the Windows Phone blog has posted up an update on the progress of making the Windows Phone App Hub faster to respond and certify Windows Phone apps.

Microsoft's Tom Brix admits that the rapid growth of apps submitted to Windows Phone Marketplace is the main reason for the slowdown. He states:

So what are we doing about it? There is a long-term and a short-term plan. We’re already in the process of developing a more robust and scalable Marketplace service that will address current problems and pave the way for the even more rapid growth we’re expecting in the years ahead. But engineering work this significant doesn’t happen overnight. Our plan is to have it complete by late summer.

In the meantime, Microsoft is adding more servers as well as streamlining the process to get Windows Phone apps examined, certified and published. In addition, Microsoft has put in some bug fixes. While Brix says there won't be a massive change until later this summer, he does add, " ... the average app certification wait has now fallen to 2.6 business days, or about a half-day improvement over the last 10 days."